For Reasons Unknown
by ChemicalPanik
Summary: A drabble of Eli, Clare, and popcorn.


**Wow, it feels like forever since I've written anything, so I came up with this. Hope you like it. (BTW, I borrowed the idea from a fic I read a really long time ago, but I don't remember the title, or author, or even the fandom, so I cant credit the author that gave me the idea)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**ElixClare**

Sure, he had been in her house before, but that was when both her parents were there. Now, with just her mom, he had to admit that it was a lot more comfortable, _in most ways. _We all know the stereotypical father interrogation of new boyfriends, but after the first diner with her parents was ruined, her mom hated him that much more. At least if her father were here he would occupy her mom, but instead she spent the whole night watching them like a hawk. Well, most of the night. She left for a about an hour to go run errands (Who the hell runs errands at 9:30 at night?). And let me tell you, they savored that hour as much as they could.

They weren't as comfortable with each other as they would grow to be, so they didn't make out or anything. She suggested that they watch a movie, so the two of them went to her basement. He's never been in this basement den before, though

He imagined her basement to be like the rest of her house: neat, full of sort of dull colors, but of course he was wrong. There are pictures of her and her sister Darcy in mismatched frames all over the walls, various boxes with labels, and a huge shelf full of DVDs and videos. The couch and chairs are plush and mismatched and worse for wear, unlike absolutely any other furniture in the house. The giant television hung up on the wall is pretty much the only nice thing in the room.

But, even though it isn't the most luxurious room ever, its cozy, and he really does like it.

When she went upstairs to go make snacks, he looks around at the tons of movies that she has, trying to pick one for them to watch. He can't decide, due to the fact that he doesn't recognize a lot of the titles, and most of them seem religious, though he's not surprised at that.

When she comes back from the kitchen, he still hasn't chosen, so she places the bowl of popcorn on the table (which is covered in chocolate and makes his stomach rumble), and pulls out a movie from the middle shelf.

It's _The Breakfast Club,_ even though he's heard a lot about it, he's never seen it before. As he sits down on one end of the beat up old sofa, she puts the movie in the DVD player, and talks about how it's her favorite movie. She seems happy, which is totally what he wants.

She sits next to him, but there are a few inches of space between them, which makes everything awkward. He looked down at the popcorn. He ate before he came over, but who can resist chocolate covered popcorn?

He asked her if he could have some, and she giggled in response, telling him sure. She starts the movie, taking a few pieces of popcorn in her hand and eating them slowly, licking the excess chocolate off her finger when she finished. He tries his hardest to pay attention to the movie, he really does, but he sent most of the time staring at her intensely.

About halfway through the movie, he tells her that there's chocolate on her lips, and she tells him that there's some on his, too. Before he could reach for the napkin, her lips are on his, and he feels her tongue poke out of her mouth and trace his lips. When she pulls back, he can see in his reflection on the TV that there is no more chocolate on his lips. When he looks back at her, he sees that he cheeks are red, and there is visibly more chocolate on her lips than before.

She is smiling like a maniac at the end of the movie, and he has never been happier.

* * *

"Popcorn's sort of my guilty pleasure," she explains one night as they leave the theatre. She ate two buckets of popcorn with him, which kinda totally took him by surprise, and she must have noticed. But it's not like he _cares_ that she loves popcorn and ate pretty much all of his.

"What's there to feel guilty about?" he asks.

She shrugs. "It really isn't very healthy," she says. "But it's just _so _good..." She trailed on, looking at him with shameful eyes.

He stops and takes both her hands in his. "I promise not to tell anybody," he says, smiling a little and hoping she will too. She does, and, even better, she leans up on her tiptoes to kiss him. He doesn't know how long they stand kissing in the movie theatre parking lot, her hands gripping the sides of his shirt, his hands on her hips. But he doesn't care.

She tastes like salty, buttery popcorn and a little bit of crazy, and he won't have her any other way.

* * *

They try not to talk about it.

They don't talk about her past with KC and how he betrayed her for Jenna. They don't talk about Her parents divorce, or the fact that she was pretty sure that he dad was gonna move out.

And they definitely don't talk about Julia.

They spend time together. He tries to teach her to drive. They hang out with Adam.

They try dipping popcorn in ice cream, which turns out to be pretty gross, actually, but the chocolate fudge ice cream by itself is good, so it isn't a total waste.

They don't talk about the hard stuff, which makes him think, _maybe they don't need to._

* * *

One day, she was feeling upset because her parents had finalized their divorce, so he came over when they left.

They flip through TV channels, but nothing's on, and neither of them really feel like watching anything. Finally, she said that she bought some popcorn that you pop yourself. "Lets try it." She suggested.

"It seems simple enough." He said after reading the dirrections that were in the package next to a bag of kernels. "You put the kernels in this pot here and heat the pot up on the stove, and. . . ." He does make it sound pretty simple.

Somehow, though, popcorn ends up everywhere, she lights an entire stick of butter on fire, and the smoke detector goes off.

She turns off the oven and runs from the house with her hands over her ears while he stands on a chair and turns the smoke detector off. When she returns to the house, she nearly starts to cry, but he starts to laugh, 'cause she's adorable. "This isn't funny!" she says, stomping her foot.

"I know," he says, biting his lip. "I know."

It's quiet.

"We have more kernels. We could try again." She doesn't seem so sure of her own suggestion.

"Yeah," he says. "Or we could just microwave some, if that's easier."

She glares at him. He tries really not to laugh.

He was never like this with anyone else. Who would think that he would be the guy standing outside, laughing like a maniac. But it was because of her. She's crazy. And he's so fucking in love with her he thinks maybe he's a little crazy, too.

* * *

A few weeks before his SAT, he realized that he was kind of unprepared for it, so she offered to help him.

"Besotted" She said, waiting for him to define it.

"Use it in a sentence?"

"I am besotted with you."

"... Love?" He guesses, and she grins.

"When you ace your SAT, I promise I'll make you home-made popcorn, and I'll do it right this time."

She grabbed a piece of popcorn from the bowl beside her. He opens his mouth, but when she throws it, it bounces off his nose onto the floor.

"Ew!" She says, and giggles when he goes to pick up the piece of popcorn.

"Five second rule." He states, smiling, then tosses the popcorn in his mouth.

* * *

Spring Break was hell for both of them.

Her mom's friend had moved to town, and her mom and him seemed to be a little more then friends.

Plus, he had a son. His name was Jake.

He, however, spent most of his time in the hospital. But that wasn't his concern. He was diagnosed as bipolar.

But that wasn't his main concern, either. She broke up with him. All he did was love her, but apparently he loved her too much.

The first day he got back from the hospital, he took a bowl of popcorn up to his room and thought about her.

* * *

School was worse than the break.

It meant having to see her. He wasn't sure if he could handle that.

She spent all day with that lumberjack, _Jake_.

He also noticed some weird girl staring at him during some of his classes.

He tried not to think about that, about any of that. And he didn't, at least, he didn't until lunch. He ate with Adam, who was just so happy that Audra gave him a bag of popcorn for lunch.

When he opened the bag, the smell of popcorn was overwhelming. It reminded him of her. He wanted to puke.

Why did he have love her so much?

* * *

He was with Imogen now.

He didn't know why, and it definitely wasn't because he loved her. She didn't seem to love him, but she seemed kind of _obsessed _with him.

She pretended to be _her_, which made things easier. A lot easier.

He's over at Imogen's house. She wants to make out with him, but he doesn't want to. For some reason, whenever he's with Imogen, he feels like he's betraying _her_, but he doubts she feels the same way, since she's always with Jake.

Once Imogen gives up on tying to make out with him, she asks if he's hungry. He simply nods, not wanting to speak.

"Oh, I think I have some popcorn!" She says excitedly.

Imogen rushes to her kitchen, taking out a box of white cheddar popcorn. "I know how much you love popcorn."

He hated white cheddar popcorn. _She_ did too.

And then he realized, it wasn't the popcorn he loved, it was Clare.

But popcorn was good, too.

A few days later, he broke up with Imogen.

* * *

He got his SAT scores.

Bullfrog and Cece couldn't have been happier. He couldn't forget when she promised to make home-made popcorn when he aced them. But that didn't seem very likely right now.

Adam was excited when he told him his scores.

"I bet I'll do better on mine next year than you." He said jokingly. He just nodded dully.

The next day, when he gets back from school, Cece is in the kitchen waiting for him. On the table is a basket with a red ribbon on it that has two bags of home-popped popcorn, with a small note on the side that said _A promise is a promise_.

He doesn't know who told her, but his money's on Adam.

Turns out she makes really good popcorn when she doesn't light it on fire.

* * *

Ms. Dawes paired him up with her for a project, and he couldn't have been happier.

He went over to her house so they could work on it together.

While she was viciously writing something on a piece of paper, he went to her kitchen to make popcorn.

When he returns to where she was sitting, she had finished whatever she was writing.

He offered her some popcorn, but she declined.

"I really shouldn't. My mom bought the one that's super buttery because that's the kind that Jake likes."

"Yea, Jake. Of course." He says bitterly.

"We broke up a few weeks ago, for your information." She said, annoyed at his tone.

"You did?"

"Yea, our parents are getting married, so..."

"Ouch, that's gotta be awkward." He said with a smile.

"That's an understatement." She replies, laughing.

"So...popcorn?" He said, trying to brake the silence.

"Sure." But before she could take some, he grabs one, and tells her to open her mouth.

When he tosses it in, and it actually lands in her mouth, the two cheer.

He stops, turns to her, and kisses her. She gasps a little into his mouth at first, but he only grips her waist and moves his lips over hers until suddenly she leans up and into him, her hands circling his shoulders and her mouth tentatively opening.

She tastes like popcorn. _Of course she does._

* * *

Summer's just begun, and they're in the basement when she tells him.

They're sharing random secrets, and she just blurts it out. "I made chocolate-covered popcorn on our first date on purpose," she says.

She's sitting curled up on the couch with his head on her lap, and they're watching Jon Stewart. The whole room is dark except for the glow of the television. She toys with his hair a little. "Why?" he asks. "Just 'cause it's really good?"

She doesn't answer right away. "I knew how messy it is," she says. "And I wanted an excuse to kiss you."

He smiles. He can't believe that, but somehow he can, 'cause it's _her_.

"You didn't need an excuse," he says.

"I know," she replies, "but I . . . I wasn't sure of us yet, and. . . ." She trails off as he sits up to face her. He can barely make out her features in the dark, but she's so close he can feel her breath on his face. "But you _do_ like chocolate-covered popcorn, right? I can go make some if you want."

" Well you _definitely _don't need an excuse now." He tells her, grinning.

She kisses him.

She doesn't taste like popcorn.

But he really doesn't care.


End file.
